Upside the Head
by Ozzyols
Summary: "It was just a dumb ass accident.  No acts of life saving heroism, or other possibly spectacular ways for the injury to occur… just a dumb accident".  A car accident turns the lives of the MCRT on their head.  Spoilers through early Season 5. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**I toyed with the idea of starting this story as I have several in the works now… unfortunately my muse is a totally random beastie who likes to flood me with ideas and stories at random times. Hence this one.**

**I promise that this one is going to be a very steady work as I have a good map in place of where it's going… I hope you'll come along for the ride.**

**Standard disclaimers – NCIS is just a toy I like to play with now and again. ~ Ozzyols**

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><p>*NCIS*NCIS*<p>

It was just a dumb ass accident. No acts of life saving heroism, or other possibly spectacular ways for the injury to occur… just a dumb accident. Not even note worthy in the annals of NCIS history, a confluence of events that just put an agent in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened to any one of them… but of course it had to happen to Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

The call came just after 1500 on a Friday afternoon. It had been a slow week, a very, slow week that had seen the MCRT relegated to a backlog of paperwork and cold case files, thoroughly mind numbing stuff.

McGee had all but given up on the tower of files that were stacked on and around his desk, periodically sneering at them disdainfully as if their mere physicality offended his cyber-biased world. Ziva's fingers flew over the keys of her computer, her eyes flicking back and forth between case notes and the screen. With a concerted effort she would have her reports up to date and finalised within the hour.

"Tony, do you…" the question had started automatically before the Israeli beauty had remembered that Tony' wasn't there. Tony was at the dentist.

Tony had left the office just after lunch when the temporary crown he'd had put in some three weeks before shattered with an alarmingly loud crack, heard by the rest of his team.

It had been a little over a month since the Benoit case had been resolved… in a matter of speaking. Rene Benoit had dropped off the face of the earth overnight, a record beaten only by his daughter Jeanne. Which meant it had been just over three weeks earlier that Gibbs had stared down Tony when the Senior Field Agent had made an abortive mad dash to a daytime dentists appointment. Afterward Tony had been whinging about having to get work done of a Saturday and the work would only a stopgap measure at best.

Cradling his jaw with his left hand and glancing in his Boss's direction, Tony had waited for approval. Gibbs had merely rolled his eyes at his Senior Field Agent and told him to get back Asap.

So when a call had come through from Mulroney in dispatch Gibbs didn't even blink.

"Gibbs?" The Texan accent drawled. "You might wanna get yourself down to GW?"

"Body?" Gibbs asked

"Not exactly…" The dispatcher paused clearing his throat. "Accident at 7th and Pennsylvania, lights were out, city dump truck collided with a car… rolled it"

"Yeah… so?"

"The registration they gave of the car that was hit… it was DiNozzo's"

Gibbs froze, momentarily disbelieving what he had just heard. "Say again?" he finally responded falling back on his Marine training.

"The accident was flagged to us because he was in an agency car. Metro dispatch confirmed ID of accident victim was one Anthony D DiNozzo Jnr."

"What's his status?" Gibbs focused his mind on getting details rather than making assumptions.

Across the bullpen, the phone on Tony's desk rang as it had been ringing on and off for the past thirty minutes.

Ziva had jokingly commented earlier that "whomever was after Tony was certainly like a dog with a leg".

Gibbs had hidden a smile as McGee patiently corrected her "Bone Ziva, bone. A dog with a leg is… well…" The younger man paused. "Actually now you come to think of it…" he'd left the comment hanging with a grin playing across his boyish face.

Now, the phone could mean something else. Still focused on what sketchy details Mulroney could give, Gibbs snapped his fingers at his two other agents and hissed. "One of you get that will ya!"

The vehemence of Gibbs command, made both agents jump into action, Ziva reaching Tony's desk a shade faster than her partner and grabbing the receiver from its cradle.

"…details are hard to come by at the moment Gibbs. All I know is what I've told you…" a beeping in his ear alerted Gibbs to a second incoming call. "Mulroney; hang on." Gibbs gritted his teeth, he when it came to technology Gibbs openly admitted to himself that he wasn't so much a neophyte as a troglodyte and now wasn't the time to be messing around with trying to better himself. "McGee!" he snapped. "Get this other line up."

Tim jumped at his Boss's sudden demand. Something was seriously up and he obviously wasn't in the mood to discuss it. Scampering over to Gibbs desk, Tim eased himself past his seething Boss.

"Uh, sorry Boss…" McGee apologised as he punched the correct combination of buttons to access the second line and ducked back out of his way.

"Gibbs." The Team Leader said without preamble.

"Mr Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" a young male voice asked.

"Yes."

"Mr Gibbs, my name is Derek, I am an admissions clerk at George Washington Hospital. You are listed as next of kin for a Mr Anthony DiNozzo Jnr is that correct."

"How bad is he?" Gibbs jumped to the end of the conversation.

The Lead Agents cut through the preamble caught the young man off balance. "Uh… Mr DiNozzo was brought in about thirty-five minutes ago after sustaining head and brain injuries in a car crash. They have stabilised him and are running some tests and moving to Intensive Care within the next fifteen minutes."

"I'll be there in ten." Gibbs slapped his hand down on the phone hook to disconnect the call then released it. "Mulroney?" he asked hoping that the dispatcher was still there.

"Yeah Gibbs, still here."

"It's confirmed. I'm heading out now. Inform Director Shepherd." Gibbs jammed the receiver back into place.

"Gibbs?" Genuine concern touched Ziva's voice as she stood behind Tony's desk, the handset still clutched in her left hand. "That was Tony's dentist, the were asking if he was going to reschedule as he did not go to his appointment."

The look Gibbs gave both Agents set a small ball of fear plummeting into the stomachs of team members. They watched in silence as Gibbs briskly opened his draw and pulled out his ID, Sig and wallet in a fluid move, before storming past both of them on his way to the elevator.

"DiNozzo won't be makin' any appointments. He's at GW, rolled his car."

McGee and Ziva stood like two deer in headlights, the slap of the news catching them both off side. Neither moved as the ding of the Elevator door indicated the arrival at their floor.

"You two comin' or what?" Gibbs barked standing one foot in the door propping it open. In normal circumstances Gibbs would have just entered the car and let them catch up with him. But here and now, he didn't have the heart to not wait. To their credit, Gibbs had never seen his agents move so fast, his question snapping them into action.

As Ziva slid into the elevator car next to McGee and Gibbs, the Team Leader wondered just what was waiting for them at George Washington University Hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

**The response to the first chapter of this story has been amazing, I am truly humbled and gratified that you have liked what you have read so far.**

**I am suffering from holiday insomnia that's going to hit me like a tonne of bricks when I have to go back to work on Friday, so I am making the most of my opportunities, here is the next chapter for your enjoyment ~ Ozzyols**

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><p><strong>*<strong>NCIS*NCIS*

As one the team walked through the hospital like a well-practiced fighter wing, Gibbs taking point with McGee and Ziva adopting subordinate flanking positions.

Manoeuvring down the long corridor, their shoes clacking softly on the linoleum floor beneath them the three agents passed room after room, the occasional beep of a monitoring machine echoing in their ears. Above their heads signs hung from the false ceiling directing them towards the Intensive Care Unit of GW.

The three turned a corner and came face to face with another set of automatic doors heralding their arrival at ICU which failed to yield as their approached. Reaching over Gibbs stabbed at the large intercom button located on the wall.

_ICU how can I help you?_ A pleasant, yet slightly tinny, female voice answered.

"Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, I'm here for Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo he was brought in about an hour ago." Gibbs stated.

_Oh, yes… please come through_. There was a harsh metallic buzzing as the lock disengaged as the door slid open.

The corridor beyond the door was dimly lit, save for a soft glow issuing from the far end. The silhouette of a nurse's figure moved down the corridor towards them, her distorted shadow preceding her on the shiny floor.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" The young blonde woman asked stepping out of the semi shadow. She appeared to be no more than her early twenties, her long hair pulled neatly back into a functional ponytail her fresh face scrubbed clean of any make up. "My name is Anna; I'm the duty nurse today."

"What can you tell us?" Gibbs asked.

The nurse glanced from Gibbs to his two junior agents. "Ah, if you would like to follow me, I can show you to our waiting room."

"You can show me to where DiNozzo is first." Gibbs growled.

"I think it would be better if we went to the waiting room first." Anna replied calmly. Antagonising family and friends of patients did little for the situation. When the agent opened his mouth to protest, Anna fixed him an authoritative glare. "Agent Gibbs, I know that you are listed as Agent DiNozzo's next of kin, but Tony was only transferred up from trauma about fifteen minutes ago and is currently being settled in, until the doctors are done there is nothing you can do, unless you have his medical insurance details with you?"

Ziva and McGee held their collective breaths. If they'd spoken to Gibbs like that their eyeballs would still be spinning around like a slot machine.

Gibbs responded to Anna's glare with one of his own, only to find it matched with the arch of a meticulously shaped eyebrow. The young nurse was not about to back down. Gibbs nodded his mute accent.

"Good" Anna said matter-of-factly. "If you would all like to follow me.

The three agents fell into step as the walked down the short corridor of intensive care. On either side of them drawn curtains partitioned off the individual beds. Ziva reflected how behind every one someone elses life story hung in the balance. As if by some sick cosmic joke, the faint _bleep bleep bleeping_ of a heart monitor steadied into a single long noise only to be replaced by the quiet keen of woman's voice and a man's low sobs.

Anna's face grew tight in the muted light. "What a tragedy." She sighed as she opened the waiting room door for them. "three days ago, that couples 16 year old son got his licence. He decided to celebrate by taking his first solo drive in the family car by taking his two younger siblings out for ice cream. A drunk driver ran the light on M street and severed their car in half. The kid was killed instantly, as was his nine-year-old sister. Eddie, his six-year-old brother, was brought in with massive internal injuries. The doctors did everything they could." Anna's eyes glazed over slightly a she looked past her audience. "They chose to turn off his life support today." There was no mistaking the sadness in the young nurse's voice.

Ziva swallowed back her own emotional response. Too many of her friends and family had suffered the same agonizing choice. It was one she never wanted to make. It was one she hoped Gibbs was not going to have to make.

"If you all want to take a seat, I'll be back with the forms." Anna gestured. "There's a coffee machine in the corner, and the restrooms are just down the hall to the left." With a polite by warm smile the young duty nurse left the room.

McGee looked around the waiting room casually. It was obviously a room that had been designed to offer some sort of comfort for families on the edge of potential disaster. The stock standard hospital issue chairs had been replaced with couches and easy chairs. A small pile of hospital issue blankets and pillows were stacked neatly in one corner waiting for people to use. The walls had been painted a soft beige removing the clinical stark white that usually accompanied a hospital, a small jar of oil stood in one corner of the room, a half dozen rod like reeds rising up out of the jar. Tim inhaled, jasmine and lavender he thought. Not enough to be overpowering, but enough to take away the immediate clinical smell of the room. The whole furnishing of the room looked more like a reception area of a middle of the road hotel than a hospital waiting room.

"No windows." Ziva said absently as she started to pace. In lazy circled around the furniture.

Minutes passed and the nurse still hadn't returned.

McGee was at a loss what to do, he'd had a cup of water, he'd sat down, he'd stood up, he'd read the 'in case of emergency' drill stuck on the wall three times. Still nothing. Ziva maintained her quiet circling, like a shark swimming around a school of fish. Tony had been in a car accident? The concept hadn't truly settled in. He'd only seen him a couple of hours ago, now he was lying somewhere out there, in a corridor of partitioned off bays in who knew what condition. Nervously Tim stole a glance across to where Gibbs was standing. The Boss hadn't moved a muscle since the young nurse had left. He was just standing there, staring out the door of the waiting room, like a faithful dog waiting for his master to return. What the hell? Where had that come from? McGee shook the images from his mind Ziva a shark and Gibbs a faithful pooch? Gibbs was about as far from a faithful obedient family pet as he was from being Mr February of an all male review!

Flopping back down on the couch nearest to him, McGee wished he had more than his smartphone with him. He needed to be doing something with his hands. He needed to be looking things up. He needed to be doing what came naturally to him. And then it struck him, Ziva's pacing, Gibbs' stillness… they were already doing what came naturally. Ziva's life in Israel and her training as a Mossad officer had always driven her to be alert, ready to go at a moments notice. Her movements now seemed an outwards manifestation of that tenacity, while Gibbs on the other hand had spent a large portion of his military career as a sniper; the ultimate masters of sit and wait patiently.

Tim felt a little foolish. It had only taken him what… five minutes to work it out. He glanced back at his watch, five minutes? What, really, only five minutes since the nurse left?

The door to the waiting room opened, and Anna stepped back inside. "Sorry about the delay Agent Gibbs, _someone_ didn't refill the blank forms file, I had to make some copies." The recrimination in her voice as she shot an all-purpose glare back out into the hall spoke volumes.

"No problem." Gibbs replied blandly as Anna handed the clipboard over. Moving over to perch on the arm of a chair, Gibbs fished his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a small laminated card and set to work writing.

"Agent DiNozzo has been settled in, and as soon as you've finished that I'll take you to him." Anna told Gibbs. Turning her attention to the other two Agents her face took on a firm but understanding expression. "At present, we are only allowing next of kin to see Agent DiNozzo, we will assess the situation as the afternoon develops and when and if the Doctors and Agent Gibbs gives the all clear, then we would consider other visitors. I hope you understand."

"Of course." Ziva replied as McGee nodded his understanding.

"Please however feel free to wait in here if you wish." Anna glanced back to Gibbs as he handed the completed form back to her. The duty nurse scanned the three pages as Gibbs returned the card and his wallet to their former places. "This seems to be in order. I'll get it down to admissions ASAP. Now, if you would like to come with me." She held the door open for the Lead Agent.

"Boss?" McGee called. "What do you want us to do?"

Gibbs turned to face his Agent, the fear of the situation clear on his face. "Don't know yet McGee, you'll think of somethin'."

Anna escorted Gibbs past a more curtained off bays until they stopped outside the second last one before placing a gentle hand on Gibbs forearm, a silent request for him to wait a moment longer. The hiss of the curtain being pushed aside, and quiet conversation from the other side had Gibbs heart jump into his throat. Could Tony be awake already? Hope died almost in the instant that it lived as he realised the other voice was female too.

"Sure, send him in." a deeper, more mature woman's voice said.

The curtain slid back once more and Anna stepped out into the corridor. "You can go in now Agent Gibbs" she smiled standing to one side.

Gibbs braced himself for the worst, cursing the District for not maintaining their traffic signals, cursing the DC police for not manning 7th and Penn when they new it was such a dangerous intersection, cursing himself for letting DiNozzo make that damn dentist appointment during work time and mostly cursing himself for not letting DiNozzo go to the appointment when he first needed it during the middle of the Munoz/Nelson case.

Stepping through the hole in the curtain made by Anna, Gibbs got his first look at his injured agent. The cubicle was almost dark, the only light came from the diffused white neon light set into the wall behind the bed, and a single table lamp stationed at a desk at the foot of his bed.

Tony lay motionless in the middle of the hospital bed; the crisp white linen and pale cream waffle weave blanket tuck meticulously around him, his arms neatly lying down by his sides.

A memory triggered deep in the recesses of Leroy Jethro Gibbs mind. It was Christmas night, the last he had celebrated with Shannon and Kelly before being deployed to Iraq. Kelly had been given a Western Fun Barbie and Ken for whom Gibbs had made a hand carved wooden bed. At one point in the evening Gibbs had noticed how Kelly had "tucked" Ken into the new bed, the bedding regulation neat, his arms lying out above the covers, a total stillness about the small plastic man. Now sixteen years later Gibbs couldn't help but draw an analogy between the two.

Of course, Kelly's Ken doll didn't have the medical paraphernalia that had sprung up all over Tony.

The doctors had attached the Senior Field Agent to a ventilator pumping air into his lungs, the ventilator secured directly to the endotracheal tube held in place with a bandage wrapped around his head. Gibbs felt an involuntary shudder as the memory of waking to find his own throat blocked by an intubation tube. Above the bed two banks of drips flowed steadily down through their flow rate metres down the length of tubing into Tony's waiting arms. A veritable spider's web of wires and electrodes covered Tony's head and upper body. The right side of his face was an oddly yellow patchwork of bruising which was nothing compared to the deep crimson mass that had been his right eyelid. The force of the impact had swollen the tissue around the eye socket to four times its usual size.

Gibbs could accept the entire catalogue of injuries he could see on his agent bar one. A bizarre lump about the size of his fist had developed on Tony's forehead and seemed to be growing the longer he looked at it. Gibb's didn't know medicine, but he knew enough to know that wasn't good.

"Agent Gibbs." Anna said quietly, interrupting his train of thought. "This is Veronica. She's Tony's nurse for today. You can ask her any questions."

Gibbs glanced to his left and saw the owner of the voice he had heard earlier. About his age with salt and pepper greying hair, Veronica looked like you would expect a nurse to look. Dressed in her scrubs, her hair cropped short and functional, she had an air about her that was two parts compassion, one part I'll-kick-your-ass-if-you-mess-with-me. She was seated at the end of Tony's bed behind a slanted desk that looked more like a gigantic clip board with what Gibbs assumed was the records and readouts of Tony's tests.

"You're Agent Gibbs?" Veronica asked simply smiling up at the lead agent her voice belying her north-eastern roots. When Gibbs nodded Veronica stood and held her hand out. "Call me Ronnie."

"How is he?" Gibbs asked as he let his eyes examine every part of Tony's face.

"As good as we can expect right now." Ronnie replied

From the description of the accident, he'd half been expecting to find his Senior Field Agent looking like his face had gone ten rounds with a grater, but aside from the strange yellow-green colour that you would normally find around the edge of a good bruise and the swelling of his eye, and what looked like bandages for superficial cuts to his arms, Tony looked perfectly normal.

"What's with the bruising, expected it more… blue…" Gibbs queried.

"We're watching that. With that type of bruise where phagocytosis has started degrading the haemoglobin to biliverdin or bilirubin we need to make sure the patient doesn't run into complications."

Gibbs scowled, this was worse that trying to pry information out of McGee that didn't have to come with its own translation guide.

"I'm sorry, force of habit." Ronnie winced obviously reading Gibbs annoyed confusion. "A bruise like that with a head trauma can mean be indicative of more dangerous bruising inside the skull. We'll watch him closely." She shrugged. "I keep forgetting that not everyone has a medical background. Especially when they look like you."

"They look like me?" Gibbs arched an eyebrow

"Sure… you just ooze authority." Ronnie grinned before looking back over the vast array of information on the table in front of her. "Agent DiNozzo's not due for obs for another few minutes, I was just gonna get myself a coffee. You want one?"

Gibbs adrenal system screamed at the mention of the word, he could really use a coffee, but he didn't want to leave Tony until he had some definitive answers about his condition.

Ronnie had seen the expression that played across the NCIS Agents face all too often on innumerable other faces over the years. Getting a call to tell you someone close was in ICU burned a lot of energy. Ronnie smiled. "Go sit with your boy. Just tell me what you like in it."

"Coffee." Gibbs half shrugged.

Ronnie barked a sharp laugh. "And if you can stand your stirrer in it even better huh?" She grinned wider. "I gotcha! Back in a mo."

Ronnie slid the curtain closed once more and Gibbs was finally alone with Tony.

He was still, dead still. Not a flicker of life. It was obscene that this man who, even in the depths of sleep, found the energy to be animated in some form or another should be lying there attached to a machine that provided the only movement in the room as the ventilator bag deflated and then filled again.

If the small green blip on the ECG registering life beating through Tony's body hadn't been there, it would be easy to believe he was in fact dead. Gibbs swallowed and mentally shoved the fear that was rising in his chest back down. He knew that there was a chance that it was only the ventilator that was keeping that comforting blip on the screen alive. But he refused to believe that was the only option.

Leaning forward Gibbs lowered his head down to Tony's ear. "Told you before DiNozzo; you don't have permission to die. Don't make me kick your butt." Gibbs searched Tony's face intently looking for any indication that his senior agent had heard him, anything a twitch, something to let him know that he wasn't just talking to the husk of Tony DiNozzo.

Gibbs didn't need doctors to tell him the worst-case prognosis for his wayward second in command. He'd seen too many marines fall victim to accidents and head traumas not to know that it was infinitely possible that what made Tony – Tony was gone. But this was not a premise that Gibbs was willing to accept. Standing there looking down on DiNozzo's strangely youthful looking face, Gibbs knew with unfaltering certainty that buried deep within the husk of humanity lying on that bed that the irrepressible spirit of Anthony DiNozzo Jnr was there… exhausted, lost in dreamscapes unknown to man, but still there… dormant… not dead… and all Gibbs had to do was wait.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, here is the next chapter. A small argument with a red back spider (read relative of the black widow in America) has put my dominant arm out of action for a few days. But I am back and hopefully pumping out the good stuff! Anyway I hope you enjoy. Your reactions to this story so far have been amazing. To reassure… this is not a deathfic and any whompage of Tony will be resolved by the end!**

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><p>*NCIS*NCIS*<p>

Gibbs learned to like Ronnie. This short plainspoken woman, who recorded everything about Tony's progress on the giant desk, exuded a calm assertiveness that was very comforting to the former marine. In this windowless semi lit room time had no real meaning to the Lead Agent. It was only by the almost military precision of Ronnie's observations of Tony every thirty minutes that provided any sense of passage of time. On the quarter hour Ronnie would rise from her chair and take readings and plot the outcomes on Tony's chart. From the oxygen saturation in his blood, to its pressure; his heart rate; and general observations, nothing was overlooked.

Gibbs looked on as Ronnie performed the required tests to gauge Tony's reaction to outside stimuli.

"Tony, I want you to open your eyes." Ronnie asked, her voice gentle but commanding. When Tony failed to respond Ronnie placed her index fingers in the palms of his hands. "I want you to try and squeeze my fingers Tony." Gibbs watched his agent's hands silently commanding the younger man to curl his fingers. Still nothing. "That's okay Tony, next time… Can you try and wiggle your toes for me?" She reached down and carefully folded back the blanket and sheet of the bed, watching for any response. Gibbs heart sank as the pale white foot failed to react. "Perhaps you're the ticklish kind?" Ronnie mused taking her penlight out of her pocket and running the head of the device from the heel to the toes of Tony's exposed foot. Gibbs liked to think that he saw a minute spasm of muscles in Tony's calf, but he couldn't be sure.

Moving up to stand at the head of the bed opposite Gibbs, Ronnie looked down at her patient. "Okay Tony, this is the bit where you're not going to like me. I have to cause you a bit of pain." As she reached forward towards Tony's face, her penlight still in her grasp, Gibbs own hand flew out and grabbed her wrist.

"What do you mean, pain?" Gibbs asked, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

Ronnie arched an eyebrow and looked pointedly at her wrist until Gibbs released it. "It's a standard response protocol we follow with comatose patients Agent Gibbs. It helps gauge what if any level of consciousness he has and helps bring him out of it. All I will be doing is applying pressure to the pressure point between his eyebrows and see if I get a response. Now are you going to let me do my job or are you going stand there and glower at me?"

Gibbs crossed his arms and stepped back, chastened by the nurse's response, but respectful of her conviction. It wasn't his place to stop her doing her job… it was just the idea of someone causing DiNozzo more pain than he was already in was unpalatable.

"Okay Tony, here we go… just let me know if this hurts." Ronnie leaned forward and placed the butt of the penlight firmly between the agent's eyebrows and the top of his nose.

As Ronnie started pushing and twisting the pen deeper into the spot, Gibbs had to internally stand himself down, as every instinct in him fought to end her actions.

It was clear she was hurting him at some level, but the response he gave wasn't great. Gibbs watched immobile as Tony managed to flicker his eyelids ever so slightly, hope bloomed in Gibbs chest at the reaction until it died again as Ronnie peeled back Tony's eye lids and shone the business end of the penlight straight into flat unseeing eyes. He didn't react or resist as the bright light played across his corneas.

Ronnie straightened up and pursed he lips. "Not the best response we could have got," she stated flatly before twitching the corner of her mouth, "But not the worst I've seen either." Lowering herself into the chair at the foot of the bed, Ronnie began annotating Tony's charts. "You gonna just stand all day there all day, or are you gonna be a normal person and pull up that chair… depending how stubborn your boy is, we could be here a while.

Gibbs snorted. "DiNozzo… stubborn… I should've bought my bivy with me." With a wry grin to Ronnie, Gibb slid the hospital issue padded armchair over next to the bed and sat down, carding his fingers through his silver hair.

Six sets of obs later showed no discernable improvement in DiNozzo's responses. Ronnie had been unable to get anything past a brief flicker in reaction to her grinding her penlight into his forehead. Gibbs thoughts had absently turned how Tony would be horrified at the divot beginning to form in his brow and that he didn't seem to remember being told if the doctors at Portsmouth had attempted to rouse him from his own coma two years before by similar tactics. Gibbs was so lost in thought that he didn't hear when he name was being called.

A warm gentle pressure on his shoulder had the former Marine jump. Looking back over his shoulder Gibbs was relived to see Dr Donald Mallard smiling down at him, a younger clean-cut young man in a doctors coat standing behind him.

"Duck!" Gibbs jumped to his feet.

"Jethro." The Scottish ME nodded. "How is the boy?"

"You tell me Duck?" Gibbs growled, unable to hide the frustration in his voice.

"Indeed. This is Dr Isaac Freidman. He is the head neurologist here at GW. He has been assigned Tony's case."

"Doc." Gibbs nodded studying the younger man. In his early forties, probably about DiNozzo's age his tousled sandy blonde hair seemingly giving him a teenaged quality, a look not helped by the fact the man only stood about five foot four in height. But size was not a determining factor in a person's skills. "What can you tell us?"

"A great number of things Agent Gibbs." Freidman nodded grimly. "Agent DiNozzo was brought in from the…"

"Actually Doc, can we do this someplace else?" Gibbs asked looking back towards Tony.

"Of course, we can go back to my rooms." Dr Freidman gestured out into the hall.

"If McGee and Ziva are still in that waiting room, I want them to hear too."

A glance passed between The neurologist and the ME. "aaah…welll…"

Ducky came to the specialists aid before Gibbs had the opportunity to open his mouth and say something foolish. "Isaac, Jethro is Agent DiNozzo's medical power of attorney and next of kin. He is also his team leader and head of a… rather inseparable group of individuals, of which I am a member. It is inevitable that what ever you tell Jethro will be passed on to them." The ME smiled. "Might I suggest that we just move into the waiting room and fill everyone in all at the same time?" He shot a faintly wicked grin in his friend's direction. "Quite frankly you'll be doing me a monumental favour as Gibbs doesn't do 'technical' very well and would have gotten me to repeat everything you said to him dear boy!"

Isaac remained judiciously silent, instead opting to gesture for the two older men to move out into the hallway. "Ronnie we'll be back shortly."

"Not going anywhere." The ICU nurse murmured as she continued watching over Tony.

When Ducky and Gibbs walked through the doors into the waiting area, the reaction was predictable yet surprising. Predictable by virtue of the fact that a cacophony of questions launched at them from several angles of the room; surprising because the number of voices asking had increased. When Gibbs had left to go and see DiNozzo, only McGee and Ziva had been left behind waiting in the room. A suddenly blur of sylphlike proportion in black streaked from the far side of the room and barrelled into Gibbs.

"He's not dead Gibbs! He's not dead!" Abby's arms snaked around Gibbs neck, her emphatic mantra being muffled as she repeated it over and over into the crook of his neck.

Hugging the overwrought scientist closer to him Gibbs murmured reassurances in her ear. "Abs, I've seen him… he's not dead."

Pulling back she looked at him, the anxiousness and worry clearly apparent in her moss green eyes. "Really?"

Gibbs ran a hand down the side of her head and cheek and smiled. How and when the young forensics expert had arrived at the hospital Gibbs couldn't tell, but he was glad to see her all the same.

"Abigail. Dr Freidman is here to fill us all in, how about we take a seat shall we?"

With Ducky guiding her on one side and her other arm wrapped securely around Gibbs upper arm, Abby let the two men direct her over to a couch where all three could sit.

Gibbs took the moment to look at his other two agents, the news that Tony wasn't 'dead' clearly a relief to Ziva and McGee.

"Timothy why don't you come and take my spot and sit down next to Abby? I would like to look at young Anthony's reports as Dr Freidman fills us in."

McGee blinked momentarily. "Um… sure Ducky," he replied, quickly replacing on the couch next to Abby.

Ziva lowered herself gracefully into an over stuffed armchair to Gibbs immediate right, her jaw firm, chin raised, dark eyes intently watching the neurologist.

With his audience settled Dr Freidman began.

"On their arrival, EMT's found Agent DiNozzo completely unconscious. Both EMT's commented that they were surprised that Tony was alive at all given the severity of the crash. They began to stabilise him and proceeded to administer best response procedures to assess his condition."

"GCS?" Ducky interrupted looking up from the report in his hand.

"Yes, Agent DiNozzo scored four." Freidman replied sombrely.

"Oh my." There was no mistaking the tone of Ducky's response.

"GCS Duck?" Gibbs prompted.

"Glasgow Coma Scale. It's a scale that aims to give reliable and objective recordings of a persons state of consciousness at a crash scene and in subsequent assessments." Ducky's eyes lit up as a remembered bit of medical information came to mind. "It was first published in 1974 by Sir Graham Teasdale and Professor Bryan Jennett from the University in Glasgow. Actually I had a rather interesting interaction with Sir Graham back in…"

"DUCKY!" The outburst from Ziva, Abby and McGee, pulled the ME up short.

"Oh… my apologies."

"Is four good Doc?" Gibbs asked directing his question to the neurologist.

Freidman fixed the Lead Agent with a solemn gaze. "GCS works like this Agent Gibbs, it's composed of three parameters, best eye response, best verbal response, best motor response. A coma score of thirteen or higher is indicative of a mild brain injury, nine to twelve is considered moderate, and eight or less in considered severe."

The silence in the room was all pervading.

Beside him, Gibbs could feel Abby begin to tremble. "What's the lowest score you can get?" He asked his cool blue eyes boring into the young Doctor.

To his credit, the Neurologist held his ground. "Three." Allowing the team a moment to assess what he had just informed them, Isaac took the opportunity to collect a small cup of water and handed it to the now shaking Abby before continuing. "EMT's advised that he did regain consciousness while they were trying to get him out of the car, in fact it appears that Agent DiNozzo was quite animated. He kept complaining that he had to get back to the Yard."

"So he is going to be okay then? He was talking right?" McGee asked hopefully, squeezing Abby's hand between his in hope.

"It's not that easy Agent…?"

"McGee."

"…Agent McGee. Injuries of this magnitude are oddly predictable. When the impact happens initially the brain doesn't recognise that there is anything wrong. To all intents and purposes the patient seems to be acting on a normal cognitive level. It's when the brain starts swelling that problems develop." Isaac consulted his notes. "It appears that Agent DiNozzo started to become aggressive in the back of the wagon and required a second unit to be called in to assist in sedating him."

"Tony's NOT aggressive!" Abby cried. "He's the sweetest guy around. How dare you say that!"

"I'm not implying that he is. Agent DiNozzo's…"

"TONY!" Abby yelled shaking off McGee's now restraining hand.

"Okay… Tony." Isaac placated. "Tony's brain had started to swell by the time the EMT's got him out of the wreck. It's normal for people to become disorientated and aggressive under those circumstances. As I was saying, the EMT's administered a sedative that was upgraded to full anaesthesia when he was brought here. We turned the anaesthetic off as soon within an hour of him being admitted, but by that stage the brain injury had taken effect."

"What's the prognosis Isaac?" Ducky asked.

"Uncertain. There is no clear boundary between the conscious and unconscious. MRI's show that his brain is haemorrhaging, has suffered bruising and some bleeding…" the neurologist turned his focus and addressed Gibbs. "That's what's causing the lump you saw on Tony's forehead. Most of the damage we have assessed so far has been to his right frontal lobe."

"What could this mean to Tony?" Ziva asked intently concern for her partner clearly apparent in her mannerisms and posture.

"The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that deals with things like the ability to judge distances, decision-making and problem-solving." Ducky replied solemnly.

Ziva tilted her head slightly to one side. "You mean everything that Tony requires to do his job." It was not a question.

"Precisely." Ducky answered flatly.

"In addition to the quantifiable injuries Tony has sustained we also need to consider the ones that aren't so cut and dry the injuries that the CT scans won't pick up that might affect him. The impact of the accident has damaged the nerve cells in his brain. It caused some of them to over stretch and break. This type of trauma can be extremely debilitating."

"Worst case scenario Doc?" Gibbs asked, a small hard knot forming in the pit of his gut.

Dr Freidman shrugged. "Damage can range from things like paralysis, blindness or deafness in varying degrees on the physical side, to depression, anger or seizures. It's not uncommon for people to recover but never be the person they were before. Some people come through but don't recognise their loved ones, or they decide to completely change their whole lives. I've seen people walk away from family and friends their whole personality changed forever"

Isaac paused as the gravity of his words began to sink into the closely knit group. He watched as dispassionately as he could as the news affected each member in its own way. "We simply don't know. The next forty-eight hours are going to be critical. I'm afraid it's now a watch and wait to see how he recovers… and what permanent damage, if any, there might be."


End file.
